U.S. Troops in Bosnia

Re “Stick With the Task Until It’s Done” by Lee Hamilton, Commentary, May 2:

Rep. Hamilton’s opening, “The United States wants no part of a quagmire in Bosnia,” is dead accurate but his conclusion that we want a unified Bosnia is absolutely incorrect. We, the people, have made it clear to the elected politicians that it is not our wish to involve ourselves in the internal affairs of other sovereign nations. But we seem to watch it happen over our objections all the time.

We suffer from misjudgments, evidenced by the support given to the breakaway elements in the former Yugoslavia. These lead to miscalculations, such as allowing Iranian influences to be extended into southern Europe in the form of arms and cadres.

Yes, the task is far from finished, but the relevant question of the correct task has been overlooked. Shouldn’t the task be the unification of the Croatian Bosnians with Croatia and the Bosnian Serbs with the rump Yugoslavia, leaving the Andorra-sized territory to the Islamic-led Bosniaks?

The people of the United States have made it clear that we support our military personnel, but we also have made it clear that we do not want them deployed where we have no vital national interest. Bosnia fits that description to a “T.”

JAMES G. SHAW

Fullerton